Written Answers Tuesday 12 December 2006

Scottish Executive

British Sign Language

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider introducing a British Sign Language Bill, similar to the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has no plans to introduce a British Sign Language Bill.

British Sign Language

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available for the training of British Sign Language interpreters.

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money has been set aside for training additional British Sign Language interpreters.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is committed to increasing the number of British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters in Scotland and has worked with its BSL and Linguistic Access Working Group to develop its approach.

  The Executive’s approach has focused on developing and supporting the infrastructure to deliver long-term change and has provided over £900,000 to a variety of initiatives including supporting the development and delivery of a Graduate Diploma in Teaching British Sign Language Tutors at Heriot-Watt University and funding the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters.

  In addition, the Executive is in the final stages of recruiting a BSL and Linguistic Access Project Manager to develop a detailed plan for improving linguistic access for Deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing people, which will include exploring further ways in which the Executive can increase the number of registered BSL/English interpreters.

British Sign Language

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking, or has taken, in respect of the findings published in Investigation of Access to Public Services in Scotland Using British Sign Language in May 2005.

Malcolm Chisholm: The findings from the Scottish Executive’s research Investigation of Access to Public Service in Scotland Using British Sign Language continue to be considered by the Executive and its British Sign Language (BSL) and Linguistic Access Working Group to inform its approach to improving linguistic access for Deaf people in Scotland.

  The findings will also help inform the work of our new BSL and Linguistic Access Project Manager to develop a detailed plan for improving linguistic access for Deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing people.

British Sign Language

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the outline and objectives are of its "training the trainers" programme for British Sign Language interpreters and what progress has been made in achieving these objectives.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive funded "training the trainers" programme aims to provide an award-bearing course embedded within the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework to train a minimum of 10 Deaf people in Scotland to become trainers of British Sign Language (BSL) tutors. This will help address the shortage of trained trainers able to teach students at a sufficient level to progress on to BSL/English interpreter training.

  The "training the trainers" course has been developed as a Graduate Diploma in Teaching British Sign Language Tutors and was officially launched on the 15 February 2006 by the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters and Heriot-Watt University. There are 11 students undertaking the course, which is due to finish in September 2007.

British Sign Language

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has achieved the commitment made by the First Minister on 27 March 2003 when he stated "I believe that we should double the number of British Sign Language interpreters in Scotland and I have asked officials to prepare plans for how we might achieve that, which will be presented to whatever set of ministers occupies the Executive offices after the election" ( Official Report c. 20117).

Malcolm Chisholm: Plans to double the number of British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters in Scotland were announced on 4 November 2004 in answer to question S2W-11983 and included supporting the development and delivery of a Graduate Diploma in Teaching British Sign Language Tutors at Heriot-Watt University to develop the infrastructure to ensure a sustainable increase in BSL interpreters.

  The number of BSL/English interpreters on the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters register in March 2003 was 39 and now stands at 48 with 15 trainee associate members; an increase of almost 20% in fully registered interpreters.

  In addition, the Executive is in the final stages of recruiting a BSL and Linguistic Access Project Manager to develop a detailed plan for improving linguistic access for Deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing people, which will include exploring further ways the Executive can increase the number of registered BSL interpreters.

Drug Misuse

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-29652 and S2W-29653 by Cathy Jamieson on 21 and 17 November 2006 respectively, what the reasons are for charges for drink and drug driving offences not proceeding after being recorded by the police and how many charges for such offences were marked "no proceedings" in each year since 1999.

Elish Angiolini QC: Before taking action on any matter reported by the police, the Procurator Fiscal must be satisfied that the circumstances reported to him or her disclose a crime known to the law of Scotland and that there is sufficient admissible and reliable evidence.

  The following table shows the number of charges for drink and drug driving offences reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in each year since 2002 and how many of those were marked "no proceedings".

  Charges for Drink and Drug Driving Offences (See Notes)

  

 Year
 Number of Charges Reported
 Number of Charges Marked "No Proceedings"
 Percentage (%) of Charges Marked "No Proceedings"


 2002-03
 11,674
 493
 4.2


 2003-04
 11,254
 455
 4.0


 2004-05
 10,915
 389
 3.6


 2005-06
 10,914
 368
 3.4



  Where several related charges are reported to the Procurator Fiscal, sometimes it will be more appropriate to proceed with a different charge, such as causing death by dangerous driving, or causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs, and for the drink or drug driving charge to be technically marked for "no proceedings". The most common reason for drunk or driving charges being marked "no proceedings", other than for that technical reason is because there is insufficient admissible evidence.

  Notes:

  1. The information in the table above has been extracted from the COPFS Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

  2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

  3. COPFS completed an upgrade of its electronic case management system in April 2002. Only case records created after that date contain complete data which is capable of electronic analysis.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive when all NHS board maternity services will offer women a routine anomaly second ultrasound scan, in line with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland standards.

Lewis Macdonald: NHS Quality Improvement Scotland will publish the result of their review of clinical standards in maternity services next month. We expect to receive the most up to date expert advice from the UK National Screening Committee in March 2007. On-going work with boards to achieve consistent practice across Scotland will be informed by these reports.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS board maternity services are compliant with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland standards on ultrasound scanning.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not held centrally.

  I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30189 on 12 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS board maternity services that previously offered routine anomaly second ultrasound scanning have withdrawn that provision.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not held centrally.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29917 by Mr Andy Kerr on 28 November 2006, what communications it has had, or intends to have, with either United Healthcare or its president, Simon Stevens.

Mr Andy Kerr: Further to the answers to questions S2W-29916 and S2W-29917, both on 27 November 2006, I understand that previous Scottish Executive Health Ministers and officials met with Simon Stevens in his capacity as an adviser to the Prime Minister. In early 2005, Simon Stevens was present at a meeting I attended with officials and Professor David Kerr as part of the extensive consultation process which culminated in the publication of Professor Kerr’s report Building A Health Service Fit for the Future in May 2005.

  I have no plans for future communications with either United Healthcare or Simon Stevens.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what rights communities have to be involved in and consulted on the planning of primary care services before contract negotiations begin and what best practice measures it expects to be put in place in such situations.

Mr Andy Kerr: As stated in the answer to question S2W-30058 on 30 November 2006, NHS boards are expected to follow established arrangements in securing the provision of all health care services, including primary medical services, with the key criteria being to deliver safe, high quality clinical care which is responsive to patients’ needs and offers value for money.

  We would expect NHS boards to follow Communities Scotland’s National Standards for Community Engagement which the Scottish Health Council has endorsed for use in NHS Scotland.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29915 by Mr Andy Kerr on 27 November 2006, how NHS boards are expected to determine the needs of the local population and how much involvement the local population is expected to have in determining that need.

Mr Andy Kerr: The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 requires NHS boards to ensure that the reasonable requirements of patients for primary medical services are met. All NHS boards conduct local health needs assessments to determine the services required for their local populations.

  NHS boards are expected to work in partnership with the people they serve and to seek their views on the range and quality of services provided following the guidance set out in Communities Scotland’s National Standards for Community Engagement.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29915 by Mr Andy Kerr on 27 November 2006, who determines what "local circumstances" are; what rights local people have to be involved in assessing what these are; what influence they can expect to have over the decisions that flow from that assessment of local circumstances, and at what stage they can expect to influence those decisions.

Mr Andy Kerr: Decisions on what constitute local circumstances should emerge from the partnership established between the NHS board and the local community.

  Public involvement should be appropriate and proportionate to local circumstances, and follow the guidance set out in Communities Scotland’s National Standards for Community Engagement.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Minister for Health and Community Care’s letter to me dated 28 November 2006, if NHS Lanarkshire has acted "in the normal way" since 1948, why the provisions of the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 were necessary.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004, passed by the Scottish Parliament, was introduced as part of the legislative framework to support the new national (UK) GP contract arrangements, which came into effect from 1 April 2004.

  The 2004 act updated the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 making more explicit the range of contracting flexibilities already available for NHS boards to discharge their duty to secure or provide primary medical services for their local populations.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages the future of primary medical services in Scotland as involving contracts with companies such as United Health Care.

Mr Andy Kerr: As stated in the answer to question S2W-29918 on 27 November 2006, the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 provides the statutory framework for NHS boards to discharge their duty to secure or provide primary medical. The Scottish Executive has no role in the selection of primary medical services providers.

  NHS boards are statutorily responsible for providing or securing primary medical services for their local populations. How that is achieved is a matter for each NHS board taking into account the needs of the local population and local circumstances.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what projections it has made of the scale of involvement in primary medical services of private companies such as United Health Care, Boots and BUPA.

Mr Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30240 on 12 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps NHS boards are required to take to secure the delivery of primary medical services under traditional GP contracts before resorting either to direct provision or tendering and whether traditional GP contracts are the preferred model for delivery of such services.

Mr Andy Kerr: None. It is for NHS boards to determine how best to meet the particular needs of patients in the face of a vacant practice, and to seek the best solution to fulfil those needs in accordance with the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 and the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978.

  As I said in my letter to the member dated 28 November 2006, the vast majority of contracts between NHS boards and practices are of the traditional model and I see no reason why that should change, so long as these arrangements continue to work for the benefit of local patients and the community.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30056 by Mr Andy Kerr on 30 November 2006, whether it considers that consultation with the community should take place before NHS boards invite expressions of interest in the provision of primary medical services and discount awarding traditional GP contracts or directly employing GPs to provide such services.

Mr Andy Kerr: As I stated in my response to the answer question S2W-30056 on 30 November 2006, public involvement and consultation should be appropriate and proportionate to local circumstances.

  It is reasonable for a health board to consider all options for filling a vacant GP practice and to invite expressions of interest in the provision of primary medical services as this will better inform the process of consulting with the community.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30057 by Mr Andy Kerr on 30 November 2006, whether it considers that one public meeting, called shortly before the closing date for expressions of interest in the provision of primary medical services, was sufficient to allow NHS Lanarkshire to take account of the local population and local circumstances, given that other options for the delivery of such services had been discounted.

Mr Andy Kerr: In the case of Harthill Health Centre, NHS Lanarkshire’s foremost priority was to take all reasonable measures to secure or provide primary medical services for the people of Harthill.

  A public meeting took place on 29 November 2006 and a further meeting was held on Tuesday, 5 December. Public meetings are only one aspect of the board’s public engagement in this exercise; NHS Lanarkshire wrote to all households covered by the practice and they can submit their views by using the free post service or the dedicated website address (www.nhslanarkshire.co.uk/consultations) set up by the board. I understand the public engagement process will run until 20 December 2006.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30058 by Mr Andy Kerr on 30 November 2006, whether the public should expect to be consulted on matters relating to the responsiveness of NHS boards to "patients’ needs" and "value for money" before options such as the direct employment of GPs, direct contracting with local GPs previously in a partnership, or contracting with GP providers only are discounted by an NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: Public involvement and consultation should be appropriate and proportionate to the issue and local circumstances.

  NHS boards are expected to work in partnership with the people they serve and to seek their views on the range and quality of services provided following the guidance set out in Communities Scotland’s National Standards for Community Engagement.

Health

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is issued to NHS boards on the prioritisation of services.

Mr Andy Kerr: It is for NHS boards, working within the framework of national priorities, to consider how best to deploy their resources to meet local needs. However, I expect NHS boards to take account of the specialist needs of patients in their areas in planning and providing services.

Health

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many specialist colitis and Crohn’s disease nursing posts there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive does not hold data on specialist Colitis and Crohn’s disease nurses.

  However, the Executive does, since 2004, have figures for specialist Gastro-Intestinal nurses. A large part of the work undertaken by Gastro-Intestinal Nurse Specialists will involve those patients with Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. In both 2004 and 2005 there were 33 specialist Gastro-Intestinal nurses in total, split between the following health boards:

  Gastro-Intestinal Nurse Specialists

  

 NHS Argyll and Clyde
 2


 NHS Ayrshire and Arran
 1


 NHS Borders
 2


 NHS Dumfries and Galloway
 2


 NHS Fife
 3


 NHS Greater Glasgow
 9


 NHS Lanarkshire
 2


 NHS Lothian
 11


 NHS Tayside
 1

Health

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on training nurses to specialise in treating colitis and Crohn’s disease since 1999.

Mr Andy Kerr: The total funding, spent on training nurses specialising in Colitis and Crohn’s disease since 1999, is not known by the Scottish Executive.

  The Executive does not directly manage the care of Colitis and Crohn’s disease, or any other chronic illnesses. Services for long-term conditions are for NHS boards to plan and to fund from the unified budgets which are made available to them from the Executive. NHS boards are responsible for planning services in their area based on clinical need and for securing and training the staff needed to deliver them. The Scottish Executive has no power to intervene in their decisions.

Higher Education

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many medical academics are employed by higher education institutions without a medical school.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally.

  In April 2006, Scottish ministers announced new measures to refresh and sustain our supply of clinical academics. These include the creation of new pre-doctoral fellowships, with an emphasis on areas of short supply, and new clinical lecturer posts for doctors and dentists who wish to combine an academic and clinical training programme. Plans are also underway to create senior lectureship posts.

Higher Education

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the ratio is of medically qualified academics to medical students, broken down by medical school.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally.

NHS Staff

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide additional funds to employ multiple sclerosis nurses, given that NHS Lanarkshire provides one nurse for 1,100 patients and the unequal access to such nurses across Scotland.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive does not directly manage the care of multiple sclerosis or any other chronic illnesses. Services for long-term conditions are for NHS boards to plan and to fund from the unified budgets which are made available to them from the Executive. NHS boards are responsible for planning services in their area based on clinical need and for securing the staff needed to deliver them. The Scottish Executive has no power to intervene in their decisions.

  However, the Executive remains committed to building the capacity of NHSScotland’s workforce, and under the Facing the Future banner has committed over £10 million to a number of nursing and midwifery initiatives in the last three financial years. This includes specific funding for continuous professional development along with more targeted funding initiatives which include specialist nurse training.

Olympic Games

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact will be on resources for the development of (a) charities, (b) the arts and (c) other activities funded by the lottery in Scotland of the higher than predicted cost of the 2012 London Olympics.

Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30069 on 11 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Planning

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of respondents to the consultation on Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 6 supported a 20% or greater target for on-site renewable energy generation in new developments.

Malcolm Chisholm: Five hundred and fifty-two of the 1,020 responses focussed solely on microgeneration. These all supported a 20% target. A further 120 respondents raised the issue in the context of wider comments. Around half of them proposed targets between 15% and 50%, with 20% most often suggested.

Planning

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much expenditure has been allocated to the (a) Dundee City, (b) Angus and (c) Aberdeenshire council to develop and promote the planning system through online access.

Des McNulty: The E-Planning Efficient Government Programme is a key component of planning reform. The programme involves 40 partners. Work is on-going on estimating the cost of the proposed e-planning systems for each partner, but based on work to date the estimates are:

  (a) Dundee City Council – £41,000

  (b) Angus Council – £78,000

  (c) Aberdeenshire Council – £119,000.

  The aim of the programme is to bring all partners up to the same level of e-planning service, so allocations vary based on how advanced the e-planning systems of the partners are and their overall level of involvement in the programme.

Smoking

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to reduce the number of young smokers.

Lewis Macdonald: Last summer, a sub-group of the Scottish Ministerial Working Group on Tobacco Control, the Smoking Prevention Working Group, was set up to make recommendations to assist the development of a new long-term smoking prevention strategy. The group was also asked to advise ministers on the question of evidence to support raising the age of sale for tobacco products from the current age of 16.

  The Working Group’s report Towards a future without tobacco was published on 22 November 2006. The Scottish Executive welcomes this report and, in particular, its support for raising the tobacco purchase age to 18. We will shortly be consulting on the report’s recommendations, and on a draft Order and partial Regulatory Impact Assessment to implement the increase of the tobacco purchase age to 18. This will include specific consultation with young people and the Scottish Youth Parliament.

Vaccines

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that there is no delay in accessing free flu vaccine for those susceptible to the virus.

Mr Andy Kerr: ‎While there has been some delay in the delivery of this year’s flu vaccine, NHS boards are expected to receive their full vaccine orders. In Scotland we will be receiving 1.3 million doses of flu vaccine this year, 200,000 ‎more doses than last year. Over 84% of the flu vaccine has now been delivered in Scotland and this will rise to over ‎‎99% by the end of December 2006. This will ensure that all priority groups including those aged 65 and over, ‎and people with a chronic medical condition will receive their flu jabs.

  Strenuous efforts have been made by key stakeholders including flu vaccine manufacturers, community pharmacists and NHSScotland to coordinate the distribution of influenza vaccine to minimise the effect of any delay in supply. Individual GP practices have been asked to liaise closely with community pharmacists to ensure that they have sufficient stock of vaccine before scheduling patients for immunisation clinics. Information on the delay in supplies, and the measures that could be taken to deal with that delay, has been made available to NHS Scotland from June.

  In addition, guidance issued by the Scottish Executive to the NHS in Scotland to spread orders among several manufacturers was implemented from last year to reduce any potential risk of influenza vaccine being unavailable from an individual manufacturer, and spread the risk should problems in the supply chain occur.

  The Vaccine Supply Monitoring Group, an expert group chaired by a Consultant in ‎Pharmaceutical Public Health, is continually monitoring the situation to establish the vaccine supply ‎position in NHS boards.